The Escape
St Stephen ' s College Preparatory School , Frauchiger , Adrian - 11
“
Get up , maggots !” That was the first thing our warden said to us as he impatiently stormed into the cell . I groaned as the warden left the cell while scratching another tally mark into the wall . This was Auschwitz , the most feared prison camp in the whole of Europe . Somehow , through multiple prison exchanges , I had ended up here , in hell . It was 7:15 , Pacific Time . My name is Sylvester , commander of the 336th battalion of the U . S . army . If you were wondering how I got here , this is the whole story …
It was a cloudy , hazy morning in the Dachstein mountain in Austria . All was quiet . It was 6:00am , the perfect time and weather to stage an ambush . We thought we were ambushing a supply truck which was carrying crates of food and water to the small village of Hallstatt , but we were wrong . I still remember the craggy , rocky mountain pass in which we were sitting , waiting to engage the unprepared supply truck . We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity . Suddenly , we were shaken by a gunshot . One of my men had accidentally fired off a round , possibly giving away our position . Before I could react , I heard a salvo of gunshots heading our way . It wasn ’ t a supply truck after all , it was an armed convoy of German soldiers . The gun shots were like rain , a bullet whizzed past me while I was returning fire with my tommy gun . I somehow managed to get six kills before I ran out of ammunition . While I was reloading , my best friend , Landon , who was sitting right next to me , let out a bloodcurdling scream as blood shot out of his forehead . I frantically checked for a pulse . Before I could call for a medic , he was dead . Blinded by rage , I charged forward . My tommy gun was spitting out bullet after bullet . I can still hear the screams of my men as they followed suit , but they were shot full of lead within a few steps . The rocks were red with blood , and blood was pouring down my dirt-streaked face . I made a decision that very second , I was not going to die that day . I still remember the sound of the mortar as it made contact with the rock under my feet . A few seconds later , I crashed down on the ground , hard . As I looked up , a shower of rocks was coming closer . I closed my eyes , and everything went black . The last thing I heard before I blacked out was someone saying something to someone else . I wasn ’ t focusing my hearing on the conversation , but on the voice . It sounded familiar , very familiar .
When I awoke , I was bound and gagged in the back of a prison truck , with two guards at my side . I was brought to a small fort called “ Folter ” which , when translated into English , meant ‘ Torture ’. From there I was forced onto another truck which took me to a prison camp around twenty miles away . I spent two nights there in a dark , damp room with another POW . Several prison exchanges later , I got put here , in Auschwitz . Whoever ’ s watching over me in heaven , you can think about retirement .
Morning roll call , my absolute favorite part of the day . Everything was normal , except one thing , our warden wasn ’ t just any German , it was Rafael Sanders , one of my men . ” Well , well , well ”, he said in a nasty sneer , “ oh Sylvester , my old commander ,” forcing me to my knees , he continued , “ you had no idea now , do you ? It was me , I fired the shot that killed Landon . I tipped you off , I was the one that set this all up ,” he said proudly . Just before I could attack him , two guards came forward to restrain me . So here I am doing extra chores cleaning the library filled with ancient dusty books . I saw a book shelf that was slightly ajar . As I walked towards it , I could see a big hole in the wall behind it . Perhaps it was god ’ s grace or maybe just sheer luck because what I saw was not just a hole in the wall . It was a tunnel , a big tunnel with wooden support beams , the type you would see in mineshafts . Not believing my luck , I ducked behind the book shelf and entered the tunnel . It was dark and dusty . I ran as fast as my legs could carry me . Around two minutes later , I reached the end of the tunnel and poked my head out of the small opening , gasping for air . As I looked around , I saw the lights of Auschwitz fifty feet behind me . Taking a deep breath , I got up and ran into the woods .
That night , I found a railroad and decided that I needed some rest . So I clambered up a tree and slept in its branches . The next morning , I awoke just in time to see a train coming . I waited until the right moment and jumped . I felt the wind rushing past and the adrenaline building up inside of me . ’ WHUMP ’, that was the only sound I heard as I planted my feet on the roof of the train . In the end , I managed to commandeer a plane and fly it out of the airfield . I landed in an airport on the outskirts of Brittany and stowed away on a boat bound for America .